Stevens Point repeats in Division III

The Pointers were just the third team to win repeat titles in Division III history.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALEM, Va. -- Nick Bennett led a 24-8 run early in the second half and Wisconsin-Stevens Point repeated as NCAA Division III men's national champion Saturday with a 73-49 victory against Rochester.
Bennett, held scoreless in the first half when he was in foul trouble, either scored or assisted on the Pointers' first 17 points in the run, which turned a 31-27 lead into a 55-35 advantage with 10:45 remaining.
Jon Krull scored 22 points, Bennett 18 and Jason Kalsow 15 for the Pointers (29-3), who became the first team to win consecutive titles since Wisconsin-Platteville, also members of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, in 1998-99. The WIAC has won eight championships.
Rochester (25-5) got 14 points from Jon Onyiriuka and 11 from Tim Brackney but only eight from leading scorer Seth Hauben, who was bottled up down low all game long and managed only five shots.
The Pointers led 28-25 at halftime after Bennett played only 10 minutes and took only one shot, but the most valuable player of last year's championship game made up for it quickly in the second half.
He fed Eric Maus for a basket, then hit a turnaround in the lane. Before his personal run was over, he'd added three 3-pointers, a jumper, two free throws and another feed to Maus -- and the lead was 50-34.
Krull finished it with a basket inside and a three-point play after a steal and an acrobatic layup with the Yellowjackets in hot pursuit.
The victory was the 200th for Pointers coach Jack Bennett in his nine years at the school, and his last with his son as one of his top players. Bennett, Kalsow, Maus and Kyle Grusczynski all played their last game for the Pointers.
The Pointers are only the third team to win consecutive Division III championships. North Park won three in a row beginning in 1978.